Archives for June 2018

I love macarons! I love making them and I love eating them. My local grocery store had key limes the other day so I decided to make some macarons with them. I found a recipe on this blog . I made a couple of small changes that are noted in the recipe. Key limes are smaller than other limes. Truthfully I cannot taste the difference so feel free to substitute regular limes for the key limes if you can’t get them where you live.

They turned out really good. The addition of graham cracker crumbs in the filling adds some texture and a nice flavor.

There have been a lot of social media posts recently on how difficult it is to make macarons. I wanted to take a minute to address some of the erroneous “rules” to successful macaron making to encourage you all to try your hand at making them. They are so good and very quick to make.

You may read that you need to age your egg whites or let the macarons form a crust before baking them but I’m here to tell you that you don’t need to do either. I use pasteurized egg whites straight from the refrigerator and I don’t let them rest and crust before baking them.

They really aren’t difficult at all once you get the hang of the macaronage (the mixing of the wet and dry ingredients).

I did a little video to show you the process of mixing the wet and dry ingredients. This blog post has tips that you may find helpful if this is your first time making macarons.

Sift Almond Flour and Confectioners’ Sugar into a bowl and then whisk them together until they are well mixed.

Put egg whites and granulated sugar into the bowl of your mixer. Start your mixer on medium (about 4 if using a KitchenAid) and beat for a few minutes. Gradually increase the speed to high and beat them until the meringue is stiff, glossy and almost dry. If you want colored macarons now is the time to add a gel food color. I don’t recommend liquid food coloring.

Next, add all of the dry ingredients to the meringue. Fold with a rubber spatula until incorporated. You don’t need to be too gentle at this point. Once you have the wet and dry ingredients mixed together gently start the macaronage and mix gently until no white meringue is visible. If you watch my video, you will see that the motion to do this is to both fold and rub/smear the batter against the side of the bowl. Remember that macaronage (the French term for combining the ingredients) is about deflating the whites, so you don’t have to treat them too gently. Stir to deflate the egg whites until the batter is the consistency of lava and flows off your spatula. My video shows an example of the method I use to mix the batter.

Pipe the batter onto either parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. I have the best success with cookie sheets that have low sides, not sheet cake pans.

Bake at 315 degrees for about 15 minutes.

Check for to see if they are done by giving them a little wiggle with your finger. If the tops move easily, they are not done. You want them set but not firm

All ovens are different and if you aren’t sure that your oven is accurate, you may want to check it with an oven thermometer.

Let cool, match cookies and fill.

Refrigerate for at least 24 hours. You can eat them right away but they are best the next day. They also freeze beautifully, either filled or unfilled.